South African National Flag

It was only after the first post-Union Afrikaner government took office in 1925 that a bill was introduced in Parliament to introduce a national flag for the Union. This provoked violent controversy that lasted for three years, as the British thought that the Afrikaners wanted to remove the imperial symbols. The Natal Province even threatened to secede from the Union.

Finally, a compromise was reached that resulted in the adoption of a separate flag for the Union in late 1927 and the design was first hoisted on 31 May 1928. The design was based on the so-called Van Riebeeck flag or Prinsevlag ("Prince's Flag" in Afrikaans) that was originally the Dutch flag; it consisted of orange, white, and blue horizontal stripes. A version of this flag had been used as the flag of the Dutch East India Company at the Cape (with the VOC logo in the centre) from 1652 until 1795. The South African addition to the design was three smaller flags centred in the white stripe. The smaller flags were the Union Flag (mirrored) towards the hoist, the flag of the Orange Free State hanging vertically in the middle and the Transvaal Vierkleur towards the fly.

The three flags in the centre representing the former British colonies of Cape of Good Hope and Natal with the Union Jack on the left, followed by the flags of the former Afrikaner republics of Orange Free State and the South African Republic in Transvaal on the right.

Thank you Maria.